A Gift
by MercyMagnum
Summary: A women is drifting in life, then by chance meet a man who gives her a gift she didn't know she needed. Mark Calaway/OC


**An American town, summer, late 1990's –**

I was awoken by the unfamiliar feeling of hands tangled in my hair.

Warm breath against my forehead and lips barely brushing the skin.

I reached my arms up and linked them behind his neck, pulling him closer. I moved my head into his shoulder, breathing in his warm scent. He smelled like sex.

Which was no surprise.

His big body fit perfectly against mine. Sudden images of the night before surged into my mind.

A short walk through a muggy night. An electricity filled drive to the hotel room. The suddenly unhurried sensuous power of him as he'd pulled me to him in the dim light. His huge arms on either side of me, my breath coming in gasps. His hips pressed hard into mine, his jeans still on, fabric rasping against me. The weight and power of him.

Satisfaction I'd never known before.

How in the world had this happened anyway?

I was a middle aged mother of two teenage kids that wanted to be anywhere but around me. Recently out of a cold marriage to a man I knew didn't love me anymore. If he ever had.

I sagged here and there. My eyebrows were too thin.

I did crafts and vacuumed the house when I got bored, trying not to think of the lack of joy in my life. Hardly a raging goddess.

Yesterday, on an off chance I had ended up as chaperone to a friend's daughter at a live wrestling event because the girl's mother couldn't make it. Forgotten business dinner. Feeling entirely awkward and old among a sea of rowdy rocking, mostly young, people, I had stayed in the foyer of the stadium hall. I sat out there through the whole show, amazed by the noise coming from inside but unable to make myself go back in.

I'm not even sure how it happened but somehow when it was over and the crush of people where milling and pressing and my friends daughter went off with a group of her friends, saying they would take her home before I could protest, I got confused, disoriented. I was jostled by the crowd, looking for the restrooms. I went through a door I thought was leading to them and found myself in a long hallway. The door I'd come through locked behind me.

I'd wandered around trying doors. All were locked. The urge to panic was rising in me by the second. Unable to find my way out, I could feel my frustration on the cusp of making me irrational.

I'd never been so out of my element. My boring comfort zone. I'd leaned against a wall, breathing hard through my nose when a door ahead of me had flung open and a man walked into the hallway.

I'd looked up to ask him for help and words abandoned me.

He was _huge_ – filling the hallway. He walked toward me, his hair the color of ink under the florescent lights, brushing his shoulders as he moved, a black shirt open to the chest, a dark vest over-top. Boot heels echoing off the halls, faded jeans on long thick legs. He slowed when he was even with me. I must have looked as dumbfounded as I felt.

Light eyes with a worldly late-night squint moved to mine, the smallest of grins turning up his lips under a short goatee, as he ambled past, continuing down the hall. I'd watched his massive back, and he'd glanced over his shoulder an eyebrow cocked, walked a few more paces then stopped and turned pausing for a moment, weight on one hip. His expression was different, eyes squinted, brows lowered. He moved back toward me.

"You alright darlin'?" His accented voice was a deep rumble, gentle and enquiring. He sounded Texan.

"I'm, lost." I'd stated quietly, staring at him.

The man looked me up and down, not in the intrusive way people often do, but in a simple assessment of my state.

"You look it. May I help?" His head tilted, eyes warm with question.

"I…"

I felt so utterly _lost_ in that moment. Gripping the hem of my sweater I pushed back against the urge to cry.

Filled with pitiful frustration, in front of this beautiful beast of a man I felt every one of my 45 years, alone, awkward. Yes I needed help. I needed _something_.

I thought how pathetic I must look to him and I had glanced up, started out of my thoughts, realizing I was just standing there stone silent with my feelings etched onto my face.

He was looking at me, and I was stunned for the second time.

I couldn't remember anyone _ever_ looking at me like that. His smoky green gaze was full of knowing and openness. He _saw_. And I was expecting pity.

His eyes had shifted then, darkening slightly as they moved again over my form, this time with something that was no kin to concern. My mouth dropped open. Even he looked momentarily surprised.

"Mmmm." he'd made a pondering sound someplace low in his chest, his head tilting again, a big hand running over his lips in thought. Lips that seemed cut from marble, almost delicate at the crest.

"Let's get you out of here." He'd smiled then, eyes dancing with charm and interest. I'd followed the man out of that hall and nothing had ever felt so right. Had I gone completely mad?

My mind coming back to the present, I chuckled to myself, wondering what he would say if he knew what I was thinking. What had transpired since last night was still difficult for me to believe.

"Hey," he said. His voice was a sleep tinged rumble, deep, husky in my ear. I grinned into his massive shoulder, trying to hide the smirk on my face. Smirking- it was an unfamiliar thing. One that I decided I liked.

I felt his hands sliding down my body, over the generous curve of my hip to rest there on the flesh, holding me lightly. He drew back a little so he could peer down at me, his lips curling, eyes squinting with a small grin. His hair fell forward, framing his face.

His beauty was staggering. It wasn't typical and it pulled at me, the weary warmth in his eyes moved me somehow, in a way I didn't quite understand.  
>He looked as content as I felt, that little grin never leaving his lips.<p>

"I…" The words I love you had sprung into my mind. I bit them back, stunned. No.

A look passed over him, and the grin became tinged with sadness.

"It's alright."

His gaze swept down, and the grin changed again, he leaned in, lips grazing my ear as he whispered to me.

What he said made me flush and I grasped his shoulder.

"You're awful!" I laughed

"Oh, I know it…And y'know what I'm goin' to do now?"

His eyes glittering, I couldn't help but let out a short, deep chuckle as he waited for a response to the lead he'd given me.

So I gladly indulged him, going along.

"Oh… What are you going to do? Does it involve more… _sex_?" I whispered lightly, raising an eyebrow.

He inched closer to me, a predatory look coming over his face.

"We-ell…. It could do…"

His voice sent a curl down my back, and I could feel myself growing wet from the naked closeness of us; we were basically mouth-to-mouth, his light breathing against my lips.

"And what might it be?"

He didn't respond, just pressed himself into me a little more, rubbing the heavy length of his heat against me. I sucked in a breath.

His big hands traveled away from my hips, toward my center, he moved down as he bent his head, the soft hair of his beard brushing my skin. I felt his lips hot against my hip. My breath caught in my throat. Oh god.

I'd heard of men who did this, but never once thought to experience it. All thought fled my mind as his lips brushed my womanhood. My mouth fell open in a silent gasp. My hips jerked up involuntarily. He licked and kissed my throbbing flesh, his hands strong on my hips holding me steady. My legs were shaking and I was bucking up towards him, unable to hold myself still. The tension built shockingly swift and I was coming before I had time to catch a breath. I flopped back on the bed, then arched again, stunned by the intensity of the pleasure still wracking my body.

His hands loosened at my hips, running soothingly over my skin. Lips trailing over my thighs, a low rumbling sound coming from his throat. He pressed his face into the sheets, wiping it clean of my juices. The small gesture caused a twist of lust to flip through my stomach, a feeling that was mirrored in his hooded eyes when he looked up at me.

I rose suddenly, pushing at his solid frame, flipping him over onto his back. He gave a little grunt of surprise and let me do it.

He sprawled beneath me, all near seven feet of him and I crawled over him spreading my body on his. My lips sought his neck, the muscular column of his throat warm under my mouth. He let out a breathy groan as I continued to tease him, lazily making my trail across his skin. I flicked my tongue out over that little spot between neck and shoulder, and was rewarded by a deep low moan. His eyes closed, the early light filtering though his lashes, making shadows on his cheekbones. He bit his bottom lip, tongue sliding lightly over it.

I was shaking I was so turned on.

I let my hands wander over his face, the solid bones, angled and masculine, like the rest of him. Down over the softness of his goatee and down his neck, languidly across his chest- the huge pads of muscle jumping slightly under my touch. Skimming over his belly before I reached my intended destination. He looked up at me as I shifted my body to the side, propped up on one elbow and slowly wrapped my fingers around his hardness, but I couldn't get them all the way around, making him give a shaky moan and lift his hips to me. His eyes closed again momentarily, just for a brief second, before they fluttered open once more.

"Dammit woman… If you're gonna do this, don't tease…"

His gaze burned me, begging, pleading me to release him back into the state of sanity and control.

His hands had found their way into my hair, tugging gently, and I bent my head down to kiss him, nipping at his bottom lip before moving away. I began to slowly pump his length in my hands, so big and perfect, forcing out his groans of pleasure. I was relishing in the sounds that escaped from his parted lips. One of his hands clutched the sheets as his hips bucked gently, his head turned, hiding his face against my torso, I could feel his hot breath on the underside of my breast. I stilled my actions suddenly, eliciting a desperate groan from him.

His eyes flew open, his breath coming in shaky gasps

My heartbeat skipped and jolted from the pure need in his face. I had never affected a man like this. My ex-husband didn't even seem to think I'd existed. Never wanted me touching him, never touching me always turning me away. And now as I gazed down at this man, a man who I was quite sure could have any woman he wanted in the world, surveying his eyes, clouded over with pleasure, his sensuous lips parted and swollen from my own, I felt a fulfillment I hadn't ever hoped to.

Licking my lips, sliding down his body, down until I was faced by his erect cock, needing to be released. Glancing up at his face just once more, I licked the head, his following gasp almost sounded as though he was in pain. A few more licks from my tongue and suddenly I found myself being pulled up and flipped over by his strong arms.

He held himself over me his breath shuddering as much as my own, and entered me in one strong stroke. I cried out at the intensity of it and his size, he was still for a moment, eyes closed, trembling slightly. Then pistoned his hips and I came, hard, the power of it making me sob and gasp for air. He didn't stop, thrusting into me and the pleasure spread, overwhelming me, I felt as though I was coming apart. My climax was continuous now, I could hardly breathe, I could only cling to his taunt back, my fingers digging into him, slamming my body up to his, unable to stop. His thrusts became jerky and desperate, and his voice groaned deeply in my ear. He collapsed to the side, pulling me over on top of him. I heaved for breath, tremors of pleasure still rippling through me.

"Goddamn…." He murmured after a while.

I drifted into a half sleep, lulled by the slowing thunder of his heartbeat under my head.

When my eyes blinked open again the sun through the window was slung low above the horizon.

I shifted in the sheets, rising up on my elbows I looked around the room that was now blocks of light and shadows, until I saw him – leaning against the far window, his palms on the sill taking his weight, shoulders up. He was watching me, a shaft of golden light cutting through the curtains to fall across his face and shoulders. His clothes and boots were on, and his hair spilled in loose disarray around the collar of his shirt.

I took a deep breath, knowing what was coming and surprised at the peace I felt.

I smiled, letting the warmth in me show in every part of it.

I could see the breath ease softly from him as he returned the smile. He looked relieved, grateful.

It's funny how a look can heal. How a stranger can change you.

He moved to the side of the bed, leaning over, he cupped one hand behind my head and drew my face close. My eyes drifted shut and I felt his warm lips press lightly to the corner of my still upturned mouth. There was no place for words here.

I felt the thick fabric of his shirt under my hand as I gripped his forearm, firm and gentle, then releasing - trying to tell him what I couldn't manage to speak.

That it was _I_ who was grateful.

This man had given me something lasting even if our encounter wasn't. He'd given me intimacy and understanding. He'd given me joy.

And it didn't matter at all that he'd never given me his name.


End file.
